Hi, I would highly recommend the 35mm f3.5 lens. I’ve had it for a couple of years now and it was my first purchase to add to my existing kit lenses. If you want to do close up work then this is the lens for you. I can’t understand why you would pay extra for the 50mm when it doesn’t even offer true macro. The only negative as already mentioned is that you have to get in pretty close to your subject, this is only a minor drawback and I’ve never had a problem with casting shadows it just makes it hard to shoot insects because you simply scare them away! But the 50mm wouldn’t solve this problem either, you would have to go for something like the Sigma 105mm f2.8. The 35mm f3.5 is cheap, tiny in size, light as a feather and is also quite versitile. I often use this lens for portrait work:

But what this lens does best is close up, the droplets that make up the triangle at the bottom of the image were each 1mm or less in diameter (although I did use the 35mm coupled with the extension tube). I hope this helps.